Mind over matter
by NeverRavenMore
Summary: Iruka and Team 7 are sent on a simple mission, Kakashi is sent to keep watch for unrest. Iruka has knows what he saw, but it wasn't reality, now Kakashi has to help him see the truth. KakIru
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: The simple task**

Iruka had been sent on a diplomatic mission to Suna with team 7 as escort. There was word of trouble along the way, so Tsunade had arranged for Iruka and the kids to travel as a group, and Kakashi was to hover above keeping watch over them. If they looked like they were just a Team of training Genin, they could go unnoticed, but kakashi was too well known to be in the open.

Iruka had a scroll to deliver and was to wait for a response before heading back home.

The trip to Suna and inside Suna was all uneventful and seemed a bit of a waste of Kakashi's time and effort to be so hidden for such a long trip for absolutely nothing to happen. Only the occasional civilian passing by with goods to trade

It wasn't until they had just left the border again to head back home that trouble reared it's head. A civilian they thought they had seen still in Suna was heading towards them as though going back. Iruka smiled and nodded acknoledgement in their direction as they passed.

Suddenly, Iruka's surroundings pulsed and vibrated, followed by blinding lights and high pitched screeching. Team 7 was completely gone, and the civilian was no longer there, replaced by the image of Kakashi instead. His grey eye was almost black with killing intent, his Sharingan was still covered but Iruka could feel it was spinning madly.

Iruka's heart raced, pounding forcefully in his chest making it hard to breathe.

What happened to the kids? Why was Kakashi acting so strange?

"Umm... K-Kakashi-S-San?" Iruka stuttered, in hopes he may realise who he was stalking up to.

Suddenly Kakashi appeared behind Iruka, one hand in his ponytail yanking it back giving the taller man better access to his naked throat, kunai pressed firmly against his skin.

Kakashi's breath was slow, steady and almost silent even when it was right in Iruka's ear. 'What has gotten into him?!' Iruka thought to himself, 'Could he really be about to kill me? What did he do to the kids?' He was trying to keep his breathing calm, fighting his fear, his racing heart and the sweat forming under his hitae-ate.

His hair was yanked harder, causing a yelp in pain and shock, as he was thrown backwards accross the pulsing clearing into a tree. As quickly as he had made contact with the tree, Kakashi was back infront of the tanned gasping man, chakra rope wrapping around him around his chest and shoulders, feet just held off the ground.

"W-why are you doing this?" Iruka asked, hoping the Jounin would snap out of it. Suddenly a throwing star was sitting inside his mouth, digging into the insides of his cheeks. The heavier Iruka breathed, the more the throwing star would draw blood. He knew he had to calm down, as hard as it was as Kakashi wrapped chakra rope around the tree and his neck, holding him helplessly in place.

Iruka had closed his eyes, trying keep himself in a calm state to forget about the aching muscles all through his body while he fought with gravity to keep himself up in the chakra rope, rather than very slowly sliding down causing the rope to cut into his cloth covered arms and his bare neck, putting more pressure on his jaw which was still trying to hold a throwing star without cutting into the sides of his lips.

He was feeling himself getting tired and weaker, like hours had passed, by the time Kakashi was on the move again. He pulled off Iruka's hitae-ate and dropped it to the dirt beneath his feet. Next his jaw was being traced painstakingly slowly by a very sharp pointed kunai, breaking the skin as it went, before reaching the brunette ponytail, which he promptly cut at the base under the hair tie. Iruka gasped and tried to yell as his hair fell to the ground along with his hitae-ate, forgetting about the throwing star until it sliced his cheeks and tongue again, causing his mouth to fill with blood. 'Fuck...' Iruka thought to himself, suddenly giving up on holding himself up, letting the chakra wire dig in and cut into various places as he slouched, 'who am I kidding, this man is a trained killer since he was essentially a baby, he's probably been tortured more times than I can count, and now he's finally snapped. I can't fight an ANBU..." Iruka shuddered as he felt his now very short hair fall to his face. He could feintly feel the sharp kunai tracing down his his forearms, warm blood trickling down into his hands. Kakashi stayed silent as he meticulously worked his way around the Sensei with his kunai. Iruka's will was breaking, everything was hazy as he was slipping in and out of consciousness as he lost more and more blood.

A loud yell rattled through the Iruka's head as he tried to open his eyes. A blurry vision of Kakashi was infront of him, face to face with an orange fuzz standing behind him jumping up and down before complete darkness swallowed Iruka.

Kakashi had summoned Pakkun to track Iruka back down after he had suddenly disappeared from and his chakra couldn't be felt. When they found him slouching against a tree, breathing rapidly and bleeding everywhere Kakashi had slipped into killing mode, searching for any presence with his chakra. Pakkun had caught scent of a civilian who was now running from the scene, this was no ordinary civilian. Kakashi realised he had seen this man multiple times on their trip already, each time wearing different clothes, looking like he was from different countries.

"Keep an eye on him," Kakashi said to team seven gesturing to Iruka, "keep your distance, he may lash out if he thinks you are a threat." He turned to pursue the civilian Pakkun was chasing down, "Do Not follow me, under any circumstance, keep him guarded", with that he was gone, suddenly appearing behind the stranger, kunai to his throat. A cry for help quickly cut short as the Jounin made quick work of his prey. Pulling the hood away from the mans face Kakashi realised he knew the face as it skewed back to his true face. He was in the bingo book, he was known to be incredibly hard to track. Now it made sense, he was good at henging into anyone he had seen once. Kakashi's sharingan had been covered to conserve energy on their trip. He thought he was just being paranoid when he thought they had passed this man too many times. Now he felt a crushing guilt wash over him as he remembered Iruka was in a horrible state because he didn't listen to his gut feeling.

Quickly retreating back to Iruka, Kakashi sent Pakkun ahead with a message for a medical team to come and meet them to try and help the Sensei, he seemed to be fighting in his unconcious state, his face distorted in pain and fear.


	2. Chapter 2

Kakashi's request had been received and a medical team was suddenly on route, following Pakkun until they found the team, Kakashi was carrying the Chuunin's dead weight on his back for a couple of days already, everyone looked exhausted and worried for the still unconscious man. The medical team quickly took to work, meticulously checking all of the injuries Iruka had accumulated.

"He's been tortured," one med-nin said aloud, partly to his own team, partly to Kakashi, "but some of these look like they are from inside."

"Yeah, I caught the guy, he'd henged into someone else's form." Kakashi spoke softly, fighting a lump in the back of his throat, "He may have henged again before we found him, he's in the bingo book." Kakashi stood kicking rocks, hands in his pockets not wanting to look at anybody. He had failed, he had lost Iruka and now he was unconscious and clearly fighting his injuries, and possibly himself.

The medical team set to work treating some of the smaller wounds that were starting to form red edges as though an infection was starting to take. Kakashi had tried to help as much as he could when he found Iruka again, but there were too many cuts all over his exposed skin.

Once the ointment was applied they all headed back home again. They should get there by nightfall if they didn't take too many breaks, Kakashi had already decided he would just continue without breaks until he had Iruka in the hospital, being treated.

When they finally got to Konoha Shizune was waiting at the gate, along with an ANBU, ready to teleport Iruka straight to his hospital room where Tsunade was already waiting and ready to focus on healing the Sensei.

"He's been tortured, the attacker was from the Bingo book," Kakashi said sternly, trying to maintain his compsure, "I think he had henged before attacking Iruka, possibly into one of us." He gestured towards the rest of Team 7 and himself shakily.

The ANBU simply nodded and took Iruka silently before teleporting away with a pop.

Kakashi let out a shakey breath and headed toward the hospital. He knew there was no point in rushing as he wouldn't be able to see Iruka yet anyway, but he had to be there when he woke up, needed to know he would pull through this.

"We'll visit you two in the morning Kakashi-sensei" Sakura said suddenly, breaking the silence. "I'm sure he'll be fine, he just needs some rest." She gave him a small bow as she quickly grabbed Naruto and dragged him away before the Blonde had a chance to say anything. Sasuke just nodded and walked away towards the others.

Kakashi remained silent and didn't show any form of recognition toward the kids, he didn't have the energy to smile at the moment.

After what felt like hours of waiting outside Iruka's hospital room, Tsunade finally emerged to speak to Kakashi.

Kakashi immediately stood up, facing the Hokage but not making eye contact, instead looking down at the Brunettes Hitae-ate in his hands.

"Physically, he will be okay," she said cautiously, "but we won't know anything of his mental state until he wakes up."

Kakashi nodded slightly, but didn't say a word. He didn't trust his voice to come out evenly, so he didn't try.

"There's no point telling you to go home and get some rest is there?" She half smiled and opened Iruka's door for Kakashi to enter, "He will probably be out for a couple of days yet."

When Kakashi stepped into the room he saw Iruka sleeping, far from peacefully, in the far side of the room, looking way too pale for comfort. Tsunade silently closed the door again and left Kakashi to guard the Sensei.

A day and a half later, Iruka started to stir. Not that he was awake, more reliving what had happened on the mission. Kakashi jolted awake when he noticed the panicked breathing and unrest on the Sensei's face. He gently pushed the now shorter brunette hair from his face, calling his name to wake him. When blurry brown eyes finally blinked open Kakashi softly spoke.

"Iruka-Sensei, you are safe," his voice started to betray him, "you are in the hospital in Konoha." Iruka blinked a few times and finally focused on the form infront of him.

Upon seeing Kakashi's grey eye so close again, Iruka jumped up from the bed, pushing a startled Kakashi backwards with a growl of warning. He was reaching for his weapons pouch before he realised he was in a hospital gown.

"What, you couldn't finish me in the field with the kids around, so you thought you'd finish me here?!" Iruka spat, flaring his chakra in hopes to draw attention to his room. "You didn't have enough fun already?!"

Kakashi stood speechless, not really sure what was going on.

"Wha-what are you talking about?" He croaked out. Iruka was glaring daggers at him when Tsunade came rushing in to put Iruka back in bed, trying to quiet the still shouting chuunin, swearing and trying to get out of the Hokage's grip, not taking his eyes off the silver haired nin.

"It was me..." Kakashi said slowly, disheartened at the realisation. "He had henged into me... and used my image to torture him..." he muttered and stood back in the corner of the room. Tsunade silently nodded in recognition of what Kakashi was saying but was currently getting an uncooperative Iruka strapped into bed.

By the time Iruka was in bed, and mostly cooperating, Ibiki was in the room. Kakashi slipped out into the hall, they would tell him whatever was relevant after Ibiki's interrogation of the poor Sensei.

The interrogation didn't go so well, it mainly consisted of "Kakashi must have teleported us somewhere" and "He's a fucking trained killer". Yelling at Tsunade and Ibiki when they were refusing to unstrap him from the table when he knew the Jounin was just outside the door. Whenever he said anything about Kakashi, he made sure to yell it loud enough that the Jounin would hear it.

After half an hour of getting nowhere Ibiki opened the door to address Kakashi.

"He's convinced it was you," he said sternly, "how can you convince me it wasn't?" Now towering over the accused man.

"I was with the kids" He replied softly, feeling utterly defeated, "I lost track of him..." he sighed and looked back to his hands which still fiddled with the Sensei's hitae-ate nervously. "Was... I mean... Did..." he shook his head for a moment trying to find the words, "Sharingan" fell in a whisper, just enough for Ibiki's trained ears to hear.

Ibiki blinked silently and suddenly left Kakashi again going back to Iruka. "Do you remember seeing his Sharingan Iruka-Sensei?" He spoke suddenly, jolting Iruka from his brooding.

"Yes, I mean, no - I didn't _see_ it, but I could feel it spinning behind his hitae-ate, I could swear I could _hear_ it!" He replied extremely agitated suddenly. "So what?! What does that change?!"

"If he wanted to torture you, or to kill you," Ibiki stated, "why wouldn't he use his Sharingan? Unless somebody hadn't seen what was underneath?"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Iruka asked angrily, "we all know what is underneath!"

"He hasn't left the hospital in 3 days," said Ibiki slowly, "he thinks someone henged into his image to torture you." Iruka shook his head disbelievingly as he thought back to the attack. "Just think it over Sensei, I'll be back tomorrow" the torture specialist said before leaving the room with Tsunade.

"You may aswell go home brat," Tsunade offered as she passed Kakashi, "he's not going to change his mind any time soon." Kakashi nodded in recognition but stayed outside the Sensei's room all the same.


	3. Chapter 3

After spending the last few days and nights outside the Sensei's room, Kakashi had finally decided he could leave, there didn't seem to be any sign of a threat or any strange characters hanging around the hospital. So once Iruka's breathing had slowed and steadied for the night, as he slipped into a sleep, Kakashi stepped silently into the room. He pulled out a small canister that held Iruka's pony tail in his hands, wondering if the Sensei would want it or hate it. When the Jounin had spotted it on the ground with the hitae-ate, without thinking, he had picked it up and stored it. Not wanting to leave anything of the Sensei's behind after obviously going through hell out there.

Kakashi was too deep in thought about when he had found the Sensei again that he hadn't realised the change in Iruka's breathing.

"What do you want from me?" Iruka asked in a soft murmur. He was strapped to the hospital bed with nobody believing the Jounin had attacked him. He may aswell try to get him to talk. Kakashi dropped the canister to the floor, jolted back to reality, it rolled slowly along the tile floor echoing painfully in the silence between the two men. "What was that?" He asked impatiently.

"Shit!" Kakashi whispered, more to himself than anything, and followed after the canister. "It's... well... I don't know if you would actually want this or not... I just couldn't leave it behind.." he trailed off. Picking up the canister he began to roll it between his fingers again as he stood beside the bed.

"If I free your hands, could you just not try to attack me this time?" Kakashi spoke as he was already loosening the straps on tanned wrists, he wasn't in the mood to fight. Once the hands were free he left the canister on Iruka's lap and placed the hitae-ate beside him silently before retiring to the chair in the corner of the room. He would have to strap him back down if he left the room or he would have to answer to Tsunade, which was too much hassle at the moment.

Iruka opened the canister impatiently, wondering what was so important about it.

"Wha... This is..." Iruka fumbled, trying to find the words "Is this my hair? That you _cut_?" He spat bitterly.

"Yeah, it's a fucking trophy." Kakashi said sarcastically, trying to hide the hurt. "What would it take for you to believe it wasn't actually me?" He stood up and slowly walked back to beside Iruka, who was now thumbing the leaf engraving on his hitae-ate.

"Show... show me..." He said softly, "Show me your sharingan."

"I will if you want," Kakashi agreed, "But it's not an easy sight, it will be draini-" Before Kakashi realised the Chuunin's hands had moved, one was on Kakashi's vest holding him face to face, the other one pulling the hitae-ate off the sharingan. Before he had time to close his eye, it activated whirling fast and narrowing in on the Chuunin, rapidly showing his memories and feelings of frantically searching for the brunette and hunting down the civilian, at the same time Iruka's torture from Kakashi had been shown until the blackout. Iruka's grip on his vest relaxed and Kakashi pulled away as quick as he could, stumbling backwards, shakey and out of breath, trembling slightly.

"F-fuck..." Kakashi stuttered, suddenly fighting himself, what if it was him, but he didn't remember? "I'm sorry... Iruka-Sensei"

"I was so sure it was you, I don't understand why you wanted to hurt me..." Iruka whispered, shaking as adrenaline began to wear off, "were you actually worried about me? but why?"

Kakashi stood silently covering his Sharingan with his hand, not sure how to respond. Iruka was still brooding, even though he had been shown Kakashi's side, he couldn't help but feel cheated, knowing the Jounin could choose what to show.

"Why my hair?" Iruka said with bitterness back in his voice. "Do you not like a guy with long hair? Or do you really just hate me that much?!"

Kakashi quickly and silently appeared over Iruka, his Sharingan covered again. "If I wanted to hurt you _Sensei_ ," he spoke clear and low, how Iruka imagined he would speak before an assassination, he couldn't help but hold his breath and sink into the bed, "Would I not use Naruto?" Iruka couldn't help but tremble as he struggled to swallow, "If I wanted you dead... _Sensei_ , I could do it with a click of my fingers." Kakashi's voice changed suddenly as he croaked out, "Don't think just because I care about you, that means you can keep treating me like dirt." He turned away and looked out of the hospital window over Konoha, the sun had just started to rise. Iruka was still shocked, trying to comprehend what had been said. "I've never had a reason to hate you Iruka-Sensei, quite the opposite..." he added with a sigh, "How long have you hated me?" He spoke to the window, not daring to face the brunette for his answer. His mask was his last defence now, to not give anything away.

"I - I don't ..." Iruka stuttered, "I mean, I didn't. I mean... I don't know... it looked exactly like you!" He played with the canister again, trying to find the words.

Kakashi stayed silent, he didn't know how to help, he didn't know how to change the brunettes mind. He wanted to comfort him and to know the Sensei was actually safe. Kakashi had fallen for Iruka so long ago, but never had the confidence to approach him. When he had been given Naruto in his team, he thought it would be a good opportunity to spend time with the Sensei, that wasn't going so well, and now it was even worse.

"Your chakra..." Iruka mumbled after some time, "it was full of killing intent..."

"Did it actually feel like mine?"

"Umm, to be honest," he blushed slightly, "I've not felt your chakra properly. You always conceal it." Kakashi was a little shocked by that statement, it never occurred to him that it's usually concealed, he'd been doing it from such a young age it had become second nature. Kakashi reached out to take Iruka's hand gently. Instead the Sensei recoiled shakily, looking at him wide eyed. That hurt, but wasn't completely unexpected.

"Give me your hand, Iruka-Sensei...please" He curved his visible eye with a false smile.

"Why?" He held his hands to his chest, eyeing the Jounin sceptically. Kakashi held out one hand, palm up to show Iruka, softly glowing with chakra. Iruka hesitated for too long. Kakashi turned back to the window, 'forget it' he thought bitterly. There was no changing the other mans mind, he would have to sort through it all in his own time.

Tsunade and Ibiki loudly walked back into the room, the sun was rising over Konoha and Tsunade was starting rounds again. Ibiki was coming to assess Iruka's reactions again.

"I've got good news, Iruka-Sensei!" Tsunade cheerfully offered, "and some news you won't like so much."

"I'll leave you all to it then" Kakashi said calmly as he turned from the window, heading toward the door. Ibiki simply looked at him and shook his head, causing Kakashi to stop. He knew Ibiki's mannerisms a little too well. "Or not, of course." Kakashi stood beside Ibiki instead.

"I'm happy with your progress. Most of your wounds are healed, bruising will take a little longer. So we've decided you can go home Iruka," she smirked at the Sensei before continuing, "with Kakashi here." Kakashi froze, his visible eye wide with shock and looked at Ibiki confused, the torture specialist just nodded slightly in confirmation. Iruka thrashed and yelled and tried to get free of the remaining restraints.

"We spoke to Team 7, Iruka," Ibiki stated, "I am confident the man that tortured you was not Kakashi, but instead someone who henged into his image. Kakashi is the best option to watch over you and protect you at this point in time. You may have been targeted randomly, but we aren't willing to take chances."

Ibiki handed a scroll to Kakashi silently. He was to live with him and determine whether there seemed to be any connection with Iruka and the man from the Bingo book. If nothing was found, he was to monitor the Sensei for mental disturbances or change of character without bringing it to his attention. Kakashi sighed softly before nodding acknowledgement of the mission at hand.

"I guess I'll get him signed out." He said lazily, leaving Tsunade and Ibiki to deal with the restraints and calming the man enough to get him back home.


	4. Chapter 4

After Iruka had changed himself and Kakashi had him signed out they headed off. First stop was the marketplace to buy food, any fresh food, like milk, eggs, fruit and vegetables were thrown out from both households before their mission. For the most part they were agreeing on the food the other had picked out. Iruka wouldn't admit it at the time, but was most happy when he noticed Kakashi had picked out all the ingredients for making pancakes and, at the end, picked out a nice batch of fresh blueberries, Kakashi had planned to make it for the next days breakfast.

Their second stop was Ichiraku's ramen stand. Neither of the men felt like cooking for lunch and Kakashi was hoping the Chuunin would just rest once they were in his apartment. They each placed their takeaway orders and waited in awkward silence until Kakashi finally spoke.

"Yo... Iruka-Sensei, " he said feigning a lack of interest, "are you planning to be this cold the whole time?"

Iruka just glared at the Juunin and stayed silent with his arms folded accross his chest.

"Alright, starting now, let's see who gives in first," Kakashi grinned under his mask and pulled out his notorious orange covered book, "first one to talk to the other loses, and has to cook whatever the other one wants for the next meal." He held out his hand to seal the deal when Iruka spoke up,

"No, first to give in has to be the other ones slave for 24 hours," Iruka held out his hand, "but nothing perverted!" He finished, eyeing the book. They shook hands and silence hung over them again, at least it wasn't so cold now and Iruka had actually touched him without recoiling.

Once their ramen was ready they went back to Iruka's apartment to eat. After lunch Iruka decided to shower and then head off to bed for a nap before dinner, Kakashi dropped into his own home to shower and gather a few things: mainly clothes, his own pillow and blanket. He had to get back to Iruka's apartment quickly and decided to just summon a clone to find team 7 and let them know Iruka was back home, hoping they would invite themselves to dinner to make the first night less awkward for the men, and also more fun for Kakashi since they couldn't talk to each other.

Once Kakashi was back at the apartment he started his 'research' of the younger man. There was the expected photo's of family and students scattered throughout the living room, and most likely in the bedroom, which he would have to explore later. There was some drawings and cards on the fridge and in a box on top of the fridge, nothing unexpected for the teacher. There was a pile of half completed reports on a shelf in the bookcase, presumably what he was doing before being called away on their mission, a number of scrolls and various books. Sitting tucked away behind other books on the shelf Kakashi caught a glimpse of a familiar orange cover, after pulling the other books out and unearthing said orange book the spine showed it was a well read novel, he opened the front cover and noticed hand writing on the front page,

'To my, not so Innocent, Iruka,

Pick your favorite page for next time!

xxx'

He couldn't help but wonder who had given the humble, straight laced chuunin this book, but it was obviously well used. There were a few pieces of torn paper in various pages of the book, probably for subtle bookmarks. Nothing written on them though. He couldn't help but smile, thinking maybe Iruka wasn't as shy as first thought. Everything was put back to how he had found everything and resigned to the couch with his book before starting on dinner for the two men, and probably three hungry teenagers.

When the sun was starting to set Kakashi was in the kitchen, chopping up vegetables while the meat was just starting to cook. There was a pot on the stove ready to drop in instant ramen for when Naruto arrived, to save some of the whining sure to come. The others would all happily eat what Kakashi was preparing. The rice had been started and would be ready when everything else was, the soup was simply staying warm by this stage.

Iruka had emerged from his bedroom wearing simple black pants and a black, well fitted, shirt. When he entered the kitchen Kakashi handed him a cup of tea with a smile hidden under his mask. Iruka blushed lightly when he noticed Kakashi was cooking dinner happily and humming softly, he was in his usual uniform pants but with his black, sleaveless, turtleneck with mask attached.

A loud rapid knocking at the door pulled Iruka from his daze and he went to answer the door. Kakashi immediately dropped the instant ramen into the pot of boiling water and finished off the rest of the dinner.

Iruka opened the door to a very loud, very energetic and very dirty Naruto, a sullen but equally dirty Sasuke and a quiet Sakura, who was nowhere near as dirty.

"Iruka-Sensei!" Naruto shouted and jumped on Iruka in a hug, "Kakashi said you were home! How's the pervert treating you?!" His voice was laced with suspicion, Iruka just smiled softly and lead them all inside.

Sasuke groaned at Naruto and headed in to the kitchen to help Kakashi while Sakura stayed with Iruka and tried to keep Naruto in check.

"Smells decent," Sasuke said as he grabbed dishes to set the table, "you seem... relaxed?"

"I've started a game with Iruka-Sensei," Kakashi laughed slightly, "first to talk to the other loses, and has to be a slave for a day." He was too amused for Sasuke, but Kakashi knew what the man could cook, so he was determined to win.

Sasuke just shook his head and went out to the table.

After a few minutes everyone was sitting by the table and Kakashi sat the food down, placing Naruto's ramen in front of him. The night was uneventful, Iruka finally comfortable enough to relax and laugh at Naruto's usual over exaggeration and complaining, Sasuke and Kakashi speaking more seriously about technique and chakra control, and Sakura between the two types of conversation when something caught her attention, like Sasuke saying she would make a great medic.

The two Sensei's getting along quite well for men that were literally not talking to each other while trying to make the other crack. All in all it was a nice dinner and a nice night. The teenagers all headed out together, Naruto challenging Sasuke to an early morning fight before real training as they closed the door and walked Sakura home.

Kakashi was in the kitchen, washing the dishes when Iruka came back in, he wanted to thank the Jounin for a comfortable night and a nice dinner, but remembered he couldn't talk to him so simply started drying the dishes and put them away. He caught a shadowy outline of a smile in Kakashi's mask just before he found himself soaking wet as the Silver haired prankster started a play fight with the Chuunin.

Iruka laughed as he wound up the dish towel and whipped at Kakashi, aiming for his thigh, instead having it caught in his hand. Kakashi wrapped it quickly around the tanned wrists and pulled them forward before ruffling the Chuunin's hair, hoping Iruka would speak so he would win the game. Instead Iruka twisted out of the hold and threw water, soaking the Jounin, causing his gravity defying hair to cling to his forehead and drip into his turtleneck. To Iruka's suprise Kakashi just shook the water out of his hair like a dog aftet a bath which sprayed all over the tanned man again. Iruka found himself cornered with the sopping dish sponge being held over his head, ready to soak him all over again. Iruka noticed the Jounin's lapse in concentration and took the opportunity to grab hold of the edge of his mask - stalemate - if Kakashi squeezed the sponge, the mask was coming down, at the same time if Iruka tugged on the mask he would be soaked. They both smirked menacingly at each other, testing who would be more stubborn.

Much to Iruka's suprise Kakashi laughed and squeezed the sponge tight, soaking chocolate hair, making it stick to his face and neck and drenching his shirt. He pulled down the older mans mask in retaliation, but closed his eyes as he couldn't bring himself to invade Kakashi's privacy like that. Kakashi laughed again and licked the Chuunin's hand hoping it would shock him into releasing the mask.

Iruka gasped and a deep blush covered his cheeks and the mask was released as Iruka played with the scar accross his nose. He heard Kakashi shift accross the room and opened his eyes. Kakashi had replaced the mask and was back to washing the dishes, still chuckling to himself as Iruka recovered.


	5. Chapter 5

Kakashi woke in the middle of the night on high alert, he must have heard a noise. Silently, he grabbed a kunai and surveyed the area, checking the windows and surrounds, before he heard the noise was coming from Iruka's room, a soft growl cut short as he gasped for breath followed by a loud thud on the floor. Kakashi burst into the room Kunai ready and Sharingan whirling away. Iruka was in the ground gasping for air with his hand over his throat, his window clearly open with his curtain blowing madly in the breeze.

Kakashi grabbed a scroll and brush and started drawing symbols before squeezing down on the kunai to draw blood, summoning Pakkun to Iruka's room.

"No rest for the wicked hey boss?" Pakkun clearly just woke up, looking disgruntled at the man who summoned him.

"Other than my scent and Iruka-Sensei's" he motioned to Iruka who was calming himself, "who else was here?! Do you recognise the smell?"

Pakkun sniffed around the room and Iruka before jumping up to the bed and windowsill, "I've smelt them before," he grumbled before returning to Iruka and sniffing him again, Iruka stayed still, staring at Kakashi almost pleadingly, "on a mission, your team had to help him..." Pakkun trailed off sniffing the tanned wrists. "There's something wrong with your wrist." He said bluntly and looked up at Iruka finally.

Without a word Kakashi grabbed Iruka and transported them to Tsunade's office, nodding at the ANBU as they opened the door.

"Someone came in through Iruka's window, " Kakashi said sternly, Iruka hardly heard the Jounin speak like this, "Pakkun said we have helped the man on a mission before, he also said there's something wrong with his wrist."

Kakashi placed Iruka down gently onto a chair by Tsunade's desk before stepping back and looking over the Chuunin with his Sharingan activated, he could see bruising forming around the tanned neck and wrists, a few around his ribs which was probably from Iruka fighting against the intruder, he couldn't see any breaks anywhere so what had Pakkun found.

"They've tried to poison him," Tsunade said bluntly, "but I think you scared them before too much was administered."

She rummaged through her cupboards pulling out a few jars and a mortar and pestle and got to work making something. Kakashi took the chance and teleported back to Iruka's apartment where Pakkun was waiting, "ok, lets find him!" Kakashi's voice was laced with killing intent as he dressed quickly into his uniform and grabbed his weapons.

Pakkun lead the way and trotted along the rooftops heading to the gates to the villiage, "He's on the gate" he grumbled.

They both knew what that meant, he'd henged just before entering Konoha. Kakashi dropped silently between the guards along with Pakkun who was sniffing madly. He pointed his paw toward one of the men, senbon rolling between his teeth. What was Genma doing on the gate? He was meant to be on a mission for at least a week yet. Kakashi leapt forward, chakra rope ready and wrapped 'Genma' up before teleporting him away to Ibiki's office before anyone realised he was there. Ibiki was in the middle of an interrogation already, so he flared his chakra to bring him out.

"This had better be goo-" Ibiki's eyes narrowed when he noticed who Kakashi was holding, "what the fuck Kakashi?!"

Kakashi threw the man at Ibiki, "The Sensei was attacked again tonight. This Jounin is meant to be on a mission." He said simply and walked out.

Ibiki was smart enough to know what Kakashi was telling him so he went back to the Hokage's office to fetch the Chuunin again, Pakkun still at his heels.

Tsunade was finishing the bandages on Iruka's wrists when he entered again. Pakkun sniffed at the Brunette again and nodded, showing he thought Iruka would be okay and placed himself at Iruka's feet who was staring blankly at the desk in front of him.

"He hasn't spoken a word Kakashi," Tsunade said softly, "he's still in shock-"

"I'm taking him to my home," he said sternly, there was no room for argument, "whoever is after him knows his home and knows Konoha nin. Ibiki has the man from tonight, he looked like Genma." He walked over to the Sensei and placed a hand on his shoulder softly, Tsunade nodded feintly and Kakashi teleported the Chuunin to the Hatake compound. He set traps around the perimeter and summoned his dogs as guards. He set Iruka down in the living room while he set up a bed for the younger man. Pakkun took guard of Iruka immediately and wouldn't leave his side. He would brief the other ninken while Kakashi was sorting everything else.

Iruka was curled up on the couch, breathing slow, deep breaths, already fallen back asleep giving Kakashi time to make his room more homely.

"Keep an eye on him. Nobody enters this house without me here, not even Naruto - and he isn't to leave the house alone." There was no mistaking Kakashi, Pakkun knew he was worried for the man, and no longer trusted anybody. "I'll be back soon, I'm going to pick up some things from his apartment."

With that he was gone with a pop again.

Kakashi closed Iruka's bedroom window again, grabbed the mans pillow and placed a fresh one in its place, a small comfort for the poor man he hoped. Rummaging through the cupboards and drawers he found a duffle bag and filled it with clothes, spare toiletries, his favourite mug, the book he was currently reading and the papers Iruka was in the middle of marking. The apartment still needed to appear lived in so he could set some traps incase someone else was sent to attack again.

Before Kakashi left he grabbed his own blanket and pillow along with the ingredients for the blueberry pancakes he was determined to make for breakfast. He quickly scanned over the apartment for any chakra signatures before teleporting back to the Hatake compound where Iruka was still asleep on the lounge with a disgruntled looking Pakkun being forced into a hug at the Chuunin's chest.

Kakashi chuckled lightly as he passed by putting everything away. He laid out Iruka's toiletries on the end of his bed along with a fresh towel, swapped out the pillow for Iruka's own and placed the papers and book on the bedside table for the Sensei to pick up whenever he was ready.

While the sun was just starting to rise the Jounin took the opportunity to have a shower and change into lazy clothes. He still had a turtle neck with the mask attached, but now a plain black cloth covered his Sharingan eye instead of the hitae-ate and he wore loose track pants instead of uniform pants and leg wrappings before heading back out to the kitchen to start cooking breakfast for the two men and the dogs.

By the time Iruka stirred awake the dogs all had their food dished up, and near their lookout, and the blueberry pancakes for the two men were ready, Iruka's was sitting on the coffee table infront of the lounge along with a hot tea, while Kakashi had his on the kitchen bench.

"The Boss has set up a room for you," Pakkun told the younger man when he was finally let go, "including your own pillow." He finished with a soft snort, he wasn't used to Kakashi being so... thoughtful.

Kakashi sat silently in the kitchen finishing his breakfast while reading. He was keeping an eye on Iruka in his peripherals, but trying to look distracted. The last thing he wanted was for Iruka to freak out while in his compound. Once Iruka had finished he took his dishes into the kitchen shyly and popped them in the sink. He opened and closed his mouth as though to talk to Kakashi but not knowing the words, instead he just headed down the hall to the room Pakkun had said was his. He was happy to notice his book and marking to be done, a distraction would be needed at times, he knew, but right now he just wanted a shower. Pakkun kept as Iruka's shadow for the time being, showing him where everything was and keeping Iruka quite calm by not having to have human contact yet.


	6. Chapter 6

Two days had passed with Iruka silently eating meals in the lounge and Kakashi in the kitchen. All his marking was now finished and he was onto the last chapter of his book. He wanted to tell Kakashi what happened with Genma, but then he still had the vivid memories of Kakashi doing the same. It was hard to turn off in his brain, no matter how much he tried. So instead he resigned to keeping to himself in the room, with Pakkun, trying to sort out what was real and what was fake, which was helping for the most part.

Kakashi finally cracked and decided he had to speak to the Chuunin, he wasn't looking after his hair as he was before the initial attack and was starting to get damaged at the back and knotting easier as Iruka tried to cover it up with bandanas.

He knocked lightly on the Chuunins wooden door,

"Took him long enough," Pakkun said with a sniff in the doors direction, "he's been on edge since you first got hurt."

Iruka slowly and quietly opened the door to find Kakashi standing awkwardly with one hand in his pocket, the other holding a brush and a comb by his side.

"If you don't want to do it yourself, can I at least try to help?" He asked shyly, scratching the back of his leg with his other foot.

Iruka simply nodded and stepped out of the room and in to the lounge to sit on the floor. The Jounin followed silently and sat on the lounge behind the tanned man.

He could see Iruka visibly stiffen but didn't move or say anything.

Kakashi moved in slow but sure movements, removing the bandana and sectioning off the hair to brush it through, careful not to pull the brown hair with a knot. Iruka was very slowly relaxing at the other mans touches.

"Can I use my hands Iruka-Sensei?" Kakashi asked softly.

The brunette head nodded minutely still a little unsure but Pakkun had nodded to him.

Kakashi brought very controlled, very soft chakra to his finger tips and methodically massaged the Chuunin's scalp, stimulating the growth of his hair as he went. It wasn't going to be an immediate fix by any means, but it would at least help to speed it along if Iruka let him do this regularly.

Suddenly a very feint, low chuckle escaped the Sensei's body. Kakashi pulled away and stopped touching the other man immediately, not sure what he had done.

"You broke first," Iruka said softly, his voice still wasn't very strong after 'Genma', "that means you are my slave." He chuckled again.

Kakashi smiled slightly behind his mask, happy that Iruka seemed to be on the mend.

"Your wish is my command" Kakashi said in a mocking tone and hopped off the couch to be infront of the man, Iruka held his troat tenderly and stopped making any noises, "Tea? To soothe your throat?" He asked with a hint of worry, Iruka simply nodded and tried to swallow.

After putting the water on to boil Kakashi knelt infront of Iruka with his hands visable in his lap.

"Iruka-Sensei, can I have a look at your throat?" He said softly. Iruka's shoulders tensed but tried to not let it show. "With this," he tapped his hitae-ate which covered is Sharingan still, "I can check if it's just bruising or anything more sinister. I could also aid the healing." Iruka stayed silent, not looking at his senior at all. "I mean... I could ask Tsunade to come by if you rather?"

Kakashi returned to the kitchen to make Iruka's tea while the Sensei thought over the options.

"Boss!" Pakkun growled as the tea was given to the brunette.

Kakashi knodded silently and headed to the front door. Pakkun stood protectively infront of Iruka as a loud, rapid knocking was heard, followed by Naruto's boisterous voice. Pakkun didn't move from blocking Iruka's path. Kakashi and the dogs inside all sniffed the air, unhappy with the blondes presence.

Ever so slowly Kakashi opened the door ajar, kunai ready in his hand behind the door.

"Hey, hey Kakashi! Where's Iruka-Sensei?" The blonde yelled while trying to push through the door. Kakashi held it it place casually.

"Maa, he's resting kid, come back later" he said pushing the door forward to close.

"No he's not, he's sitting on the lounge, let me see him!" He yelled again. Kakashi kept his ground and told Naruto to leave again in a bored tone. Kakashi's ninken were suddenly gathered at their feet, softly growling at the Blonde.

Naruto took a step back suddenly and found his feet gone from under him. Kakashi quickly bound the boy and propped him against the door before poking his head inside to address Iruka, "maybe seeing Tsunade would be best." He said with a one eyed smile.


End file.
